6 Reasons Why You’re Awesome for Giving Your Kids Music Lessons

Don’t think twice about giving your kids the gift of music! Kids who take music lessons reap benefits that cross into several developmental areas. Here are 6 important ways that music education for children enriches your child’s life.

1. It supports academic growth.

Music is filled with math lessons. Learning about beat, rhythm, and scales teaches children about dividing, fractions, and patterns. Additionally, children who study music tend to have larger vocabularies and more advanced reading skills than peers who do not.

2. It supports physical growth.

Learning to play drums actively moves the hands, arms, and feet, while piano, violin, and guitar require the right and left hands to move differently. This stimulates coordination, motor skills, and ambidexterity. Just the act of holding an instrument can train students to become comfortable in an otherwise uncomfortable situation– a great life skill all around.

3. It teaches social skills.

Group music lessons invariably teach students to cooperate, contribute, and work as part of a whole. But even one-on-one lessons offer a chance for students to develop close, personal relationships with a teacher. Recitals offer private-lesson students the opportunity to perform for an audience, and to learn how to wait their turn.

4. It promotes patience, discipline, and delayed gratification.

There’s no quick way to learn an instrument. By putting hours, weeks, months, and even years into lessons and practice, students learn that goals aren’t achieved overnight.

5. It build self-esteem and confidence.

In lessons, students learn to accept constructive criticism, and to be thoughtful about their own work and progress. Under the wing of a good teacher, a student’s ability to channel criticism into positive growth will improve their self-esteem.

6. It opens up a multi-cultural world.

Music is an international language; every corner of the globe offers its unique genre and style. Music lessons can be a doorway to different cultures, sounds, and traditions, ultimately encouraging a child to understand and appreciate diversity.